Iddhipādasutta — Rāgapeyyāla — the twenty-eighth chapter of the Fours
Setting
None stated; the Rāgapeyyāla gives no location for this discourse, and it is addressed to the mendicants directly
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A list of four, each pairing immersion born of a different quality with active effort
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The four bases of psychic power are foundational across the Nikāyas and Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number for this particular framing
Difficulty
★★★☆☆ — the last individually treated discourse before a change in format this series must address directly
Why this discourse
Enthusiasm, energy, mind, and inquiry: four different roots for the same kind of immersion, each said to develop direct knowledge of greed. This discourse completes the three-part set begun at AN 4.274, and with it, nearly the entire traditional thirty-seven qualities that contribute to awakening have now surfaced somewhere in this series. It is also the last discourse this reading guide can treat exactly as it has treated every individual discourse since AN 4.1 — what follows next is compressed at a scale that requires a different approach.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
For direct knowledge of greed, a mendicant develops the basis of psychic power that has immersion due to enthusiasm and active effort, or due to energy, or mind, or inquiry, each paired with active effort.
Four roots, one kind of immersion
Chandasamādhipadhānasaṅkhārasamannāgataṁ iddhipādaṁ…vīriyasamādhi…cittasamādhi…vīmaṁsāsamādhipadhānasaṅkhārasamannāgataṁ iddhipādaṁ bhāveti — the basis of psychic power founded on enthusiasm, on energy, on mind (sometimes rendered will or intention), and on inquiry or investigation, each fused with active effort into a single immersion. Unlike AN 4.274’s four different objects or AN 4.275’s four-cell grid, this discourse names four different sources feeding the identical kind of concentrated state — the same destination reached by four different roads.
A term whose ordinary meaning survives its technical use
Iddhi, usually translated ‘psychic power’, names the traditional supernormal abilities attributed to advanced meditators elsewhere in the canon; iddhipāda, its ‘basis’, is the meditative foundation said to produce such power, among other things. This discourse does not describe any supernormal ability directly — it stays entirely within the register of immersion and effort — but the term’s wider association is worth noting for readers who encounter iddhi elsewhere in more dramatic contexts.
A three-discourse set, complete
With this discourse, AN 4.274–276 have together applied the identical ‘for direct knowledge of greed, four things should be developed’ frame to three different bodhipakkhiya lists: the four establishments of mindfulness, the four right efforts, and now the four bases of psychic power. Combined with the eightfold path at AN 4.237, the seven awakening factors at AN 4.238, and the four powers at AN 4.261, this series has now touched six of the traditional seven sets that make up the thirty-seven qualities contributing to awakening — missing only the five faculties, whose members are identical to the four powers with faith restored as a fifth.
What comes next, and why this guide stops here to ask
The source text itself signals a change immediately after this discourse: AN 4.277–303 and AN 4.304–783 are preserved in the bilara-data source not as separate numbered discourses but as two single, heavily compressed blocks, cross-multiplying this same ‘for direct knowledge of…four things should be developed’ frame across many more verbs beyond direct knowledge alone (complete understanding, finishing, giving up, ending, and others) and many more targets beyond greed alone (hate, delusion, anger, and a long list of further defilements) — twenty-seven and four hundred eighty notional discourses respectively, ending in the traditional colophon marking the Book of the Fours complete. This is exactly the material the task set out for this project flagged in advance as needing a different presentation than one page per discourse, and exactly where it asked that the format be settled with Luke before proceeding, rather than assumed. This reading guide stops here for that reason, with AN 4.1 through AN 4.276 now complete as individual pages.
Key terms
iddhipāda — “basis of psychic power” — the meditative foundation said to produce such power, given here as its own fourfold set for the first time in this series.
chanda / vīriya / citta / vīmaṁsā — enthusiasm, energy, mind, and inquiry — the four different roots feeding the identical kind of immersion.
padhānasaṅkhāra — “active effort, exertion” — fused with each of the four roots into a single immersion in this discourse's formula.
bodhipakkhiyā dhammā — “qualities contributing to awakening” — the traditional thirty-seven qualities in seven sets, six of which this series has now touched.
peyyāla — “repetition-series” — the device the chapter is named for, about to operate at a scale this discourse's closing section addresses directly.
The text
The discourse in full: the four bases of psychic power, for direct knowledge of greed. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The four bases of psychic power
§1“For insight into greed, four things should be developed. What four? It’s when a mendicant develops the basis of psychic power that has immersion due to enthusiasm, and active effort. They develop the basis of psychic power that has immersion due to energy … mental development … inquiry, and active effort. For insight into greed, these four things should be developed.”
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Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
What four things does this discourse say should be developed?
Correct: B. The same destination reached by four different roads, unlike AN 4.274's four objects or AN 4.275's four-cell grid.
Question 2 of 10
What does iddhi usually mean elsewhere in the canon?
Correct: B. Though this discourse itself stays entirely within the register of immersion and effort.
Question 3 of 10
What three-discourse set does this discourse complete?
Correct: B. Mindfulness, right effort, and now the bases of psychic power.
Question 4 of 10
How many of the traditional seven sets making up the bodhipakkhiyā dhammā has this series now touched, according to the guide?
Correct: B. Path, awakening factors, powers, mindfulness, right effort, and bases of psychic power.
Question 5 of 10
How does the source text (bilara-data) preserve AN 4.277–303 and AN 4.304–783?
Correct: B. Twenty-seven and four hundred eighty notional discourses respectively.
Question 6 of 10
What does the guide say this reading guide will do at this point, rather than proceed automatically?
Correct: B. Consistent with what this project's task explicitly anticipated and asked for in advance.
Question 7 of 10
What is vīmaṁsā, the fourth root named in this discourse?
Correct: B. The fourth of the four bases of psychic power.
Question 8 of 10
What element is fused with each of the four roots into a single immersion?
Correct: B. Present identically across all four formulations.
Question 9 of 10
What colophon does the source text use to mark the end of the material beginning at AN 4.304?
Correct: B. The end of the entire Catukka Nipāta, reached through this compressed material.
Question 10 of 10
What relationship do the five faculties have to the four powers already met at AN 4.261?
Correct: B. The one bodhipakkhiya set this series has not yet touched in its own right.
